[?]Ok, i have a limited space for my HO layout…3’x15’. I need a starting point. I figured I would lok online for some track plans fitting these dimensions. I did Google searches until my eyes watered and did not find much.
Could someone point me in the right direction? I just need a little inspiration to get me started… I am not good at sitting down with pencil and paper and drawing a layout from scratch.
Are there any good sites online where I could look at a few track plans to get the creative juices flowing?
Thanks in advance for any guidance or suggestions,
Ken
Try downloading Atlas’s RTS software it’s free and not very hard to learn,(save often program tends to lock up)
once you’ve got it start laying track out for your layout size, add spurs and sidings
making your track plan is half the fun of this hobby.
bill
First off, with 3x15 in HO, unless you are doing trolley, you will pretty much be confined to switching layouts. That is layouts where you switch cars and don’t run trains in a loop. The reason I say that is that your layout area is very narrow.
My suggestion would be to search for “switching layout” or go to Yahoo and search the “Groups” section for groups dealing with railroads or model railroads. There are several groups devoted to layout design, construction, switching layouts, small layouts, etc.
Also don’t dismiss large layouts either. You can take one large town or station from a large layout and use that as a basis for making your layout. Kalmbach has several books that are collections of layout plans. Buy one or two of those. Ian Rice also has authored several books on smaller railroads. If there is one for a small room, don’t be afraid to “unroll” it out straight to fit your area.
Dave H.
lots of ideas here , almost all of them taking less space than you have . you might consider combining 2 plans , or expanding one that seems interesting
or here …
http://www.wymann.info/ShuntingPuzzles/small-layouts.html
would you consider N scale? That space would fit a great N scale empire! You could have the loop and plenty of switching.
Thanks for all the help! Yes I realize that I am limited to a switching layout, which is fine with me! I have all of my HO stuff and really like the gauge. To start over in N would be pretty costly, although it is a logical alternative. I probably could build a really nice switching layout (maybe urban railroad in a downtown district, or several small business in an industrial setting) i will look at the leads you have given me and see where I end up. No track has been laid, so I am still open to options. I can and probably will change my mind many times before I have a plan. But then, research is part of the fun too.
Ken
You’ll probably end up with ‘something’ to run trains, but if this is a first kick at it, and you’d like to give your time in the hobby some ‘legs’, do, for sure, allow yourself to change your mind about every single detail in the planning, from outright room available to shape to track-plan to setting. It is the only sure way to come away from the first experience with any real learning, confidence, and satisfaction. You’ll get over the compromises you face, but you’ll never get over the rushed, half-baked decisions you make when you are turning the throttle two months after you get it running.
Here is a nice web site for track plans.
Can you consider making your layout more than 3 feet wide JUST on the end lobes so you can make a turnback curve? Maybe 3.5 feet.
In other words, don’t get stuck on the idea of the thing being rectangular and all having same width. (Of course if you are building in a 3 feet wide hall, that’s all you have, period.)
Yes, I sure will be able to add the extra space needed for the turn around! I plan on being very detail oriented from the beginning. In my opinion, running the trains is the benefit of building a layout, and not vise versa. The aspect I enjoy the most is the scenery, which is time consuming to say the least. If I just wanted to run trains, i would get a sheet of plywood and nail down some tracks. This hobby has many facets and I want to enjoy each phase as much as I can.
Good advice and encouragement are always welcome. This forum may be my main support to get over the tough spots.
Thanks to all of you for your generous help and patience.
Ken
Just because scenery is your main focus doesn’t mean you should discount operations. You can still workout a theme and purpose for your railroad to keep the running interesting after the year or so it will take to build a good looking layout. Check out Iain Rice’s books on layouts for small spaces from Model Railroader.
Here is what I would probably do in your space (speaking in generalities, not trying to model a specific scene.) Describing it in words…
I would have a continuous loop which could be used for “running”, with turnback curves at each end. Your width of just as little over 3 feet as possible dictates a single track mainline for the continuous loop.
Much or most of the “back” part of the continuous loop would serve as hidden layover staging. Ought to have AT LEAST two tracks (a hidden passing siding so to speak.) Even better to have 3 staging tracks. Hide them in a tunnel, cut, behind buildings, or behind a background, depending on your preference of scene being depicted. One inexpensive way to monitor hidden staging is have track behind some viewblock that does not hide them from above, and use a mirror on the ceiling to check the hidden staging.
The conspicuously visible front half of the continuous loop should have at least one passing siding where several kinds of operation can take place… Trains can of course just run through, come from staging, run through scene and disappear. More interestingly, mainline trains running in opposite directions can make meets, one train pulling into the siding to allow superior other train to go by. This can be highly co-ordinated by timetable, or looser by sequence. But it gives you something interesting the trains can do. The same passing siding can also be used as a runaround track for local industry switching. Further, with most industry spurs located off the passing siding, a local could switch those spurs at the same time through trains go by on the mainline.
Some modelers want to have as many passing siding points as possible for “variety” in where trains can meet. I would favor one train-length passing siding and perhaps one additional two-or-three car-length runaround tracks to having 2 passing sidings that are too close together to seem like different “places” or “towns” on a railroad. Just my druthers.
Your request has given me some ideas about big-time big-city railroading in limited space. Got me all excited with the challenge. Will take some time to draw a plan. Can the germ of the idea be made to work? Maybe back in a day or two…
Try this site.
http://www.thortrains.net/
RMax1
I designed such a layout for myself, but with only about 18 inches in width. I believe you can still model class 1 railroads, though modeling an urban/industrial setting may be the way to go. You could have a small staging yard (5 tracks or so) behind a backdrop, which extends about 7 feet along the length of the layout, starting at one end. The trains would pull out of the staging yard, entering the visible layout from beneath an overpass (which hides the opening through the backdrop). The train would move several feet, then into a yard a the other end of the layout. Here the engines would uncouple, go to a servicing area, and a switcher would begin classifying cars for “outbound” trains.
About a third of the layout would contain the yard and engine facilities. The other end of the layout (about seven or eight feet in length) in front of the hidden staging yard could contain heavy industry. That would be a source of a lot of switching and carloads/empties. Later, your engine set would couple onto an “outbound” train and procede back into the staging yard. . I think you could run 12-car trains with this setup. I hope I have given you some help
Here is an idea for a bit of big-time big-scene railroading in a limited space, 15 feet long but only 3 feet deep, EXCEPT for the areas marked in red where the layout sticks out a bit to allow an 18" minimum radius end curve. The green line near the bottom of the drawing is the 3 foot line.
Note: clicking on the track plan may make it display larger for clearer viewing.
Trains coming from staging, passing through the scene, and a switcher handling industry spurs are among the major features of the layout. But I also figured out a way to include passenger trains with full-length cars, even though you have only those sharp turnback curves at the ends.
Passenger trains do not run around the continuous loop but come from hidden staging and back into the station tracks. I thought about passenger trains just backing from a hidden space at the other end of the layout from the station-- I remember watching Amtrak trains in 1973 from the Roosevelt Roads viaduct in Chicago, backing in and out of Union Station from coach yards. In very limited length of layout (for passenger trains) not much action and not visible for very long.
Then I thought about a switchback move, where the passenger train would run out of hidden staging roughly parallel to and behind the station tracks onto a straight tail track that ran roughly in the middle of the opposite end turnback curve. I have ridden trains that backed through a wye into a station, made a back and forth move, changing directions. There is a prototype for that kind of entry to a passenger station, though this operation would not exactly duplicate it. One drawback would be that it would not seem to be really part of the overall railroad represented by the continuous loop. There ought to be some connection between the station and passenger tracks, and the continuous loop for the freight line.
Then it hit me. HERE IS THE TRICK.
Wow! So many great ideas! I will have much to ponder. Thanks for spending so much time trying to help me. So Leighant saw trains switch in Chicago. I spent my younger years watching the Monon and IHB just on the other side of the state line.
I appreciate all of the help,
Ken